SUPERCAR IN SUV CLOTHING

“YOU must have a vision, or you have nothing,” says Maurizio Reggiani, head of research and development for Automobili Lamborghini SpA, who was in Rome last month to announce the brand’s latest sport utility vehicle (SUV), the Urus, its first since the “Rambo Lambo” LM002 was released in 1986.

This vision, put simply, is to make more money. The Volkswagen AG

(VW) subsidiary needs to add affluent families, millennials, and women to the ranks of the power-hungry gentlemen drivers it has historically attracted.

Last year, Lamborghini sold fewer than 3,900 units worldwide of its two models, the Hurac·n and Aventador. At full production, the SUV will almost double that number, strengthening Lamborghini’s position as VW moves to bundle some of its iconic brands into a new internal product group called “Super-Premium”. Although the Urus follows utility vehicles from rivals such as Bentley, Lamborghini is hoping sales will support its less profitable models, much the way Porsche introduced the Cayenne SUV in 2002 and “saved” its 911 model from extinction.

Numbers don’t lie. Sales of all luxury SUVs were up more than 20 per cent in March from a year earlier. Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, and Mercedes-Maybach are the last holdouts in the segment, and all four have SUV plans in the works.

The Urus certainly brings the heat, with seven all-terrain drive modes,